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U18s go top

Our Under-18s put on a late, late show to go top of the league on Saturday.

Our Under-18s put on a late, late show to go top of the league on Saturday.

Goals in the final minutes from Coskum Ekim and Nathan Byrne (pictured right) secured a fine 2-0 victory at Aston Villa to leapfrog previous leaders Birmingham City, who lost against Watford.

The win maintains the lads' unbeaten start to the campaign with three wins and three draws in their opening six matches.

In fact, they have only lost one match in the FAPAL since last October - a run of one defeat in 23 league matches.

"It was a massive win for us," reported coach Alex Inglethorpe. "We played exceptionally well in the first half, probably as well as we've played since I've been here.

"We controlled possession, we played an exciting brand of football and moved the ball around really well.

"To be fair to Villa they came out in the second half and worked hard to stop us playing. We lost our identity a bit, which was disappointing, but what we did do is go toe-to-toe with them to get through the rough patch and defensively we were excellent.

"After 88 minutes we scored the first goal with a counter-attack involving Andros Townsend who found Josh Ekim who in turn hit a fantastic shot from 20 yards that flew in.

"Two minutes later we countered again through Andros, this time he beat two defenders down the left flank before crossing for Nathan Byrne to score at the far post.

"Villa are a good team, a good Academy set-up and it was a fine win for us."